Have a second child? Hell no

Maclean’s March cover story about the rise of the single-child family, published late last week, struck a major chord with readers. The article is a sweeping look at the country’s declining birth rate and the reasons parents are having just one kid: housing anxiety, prohibitive childcare costs, fertility issues and the pressure of balancing careers with family life. Many readers told us—and confessed on social media—that they saw themselves in the article.

Courtney Shea, who wrote the story and is herself the parent of a singleton, describes the factors that led to her own decision and lays out the potential ripple effects of a low birth rate. Readers could relate to Shea’s experience. “This woman is basically me,” said one commenter in a robust Reddit discussion. Another reader wrote: “I live in Toronto where the cost of living is high. Despite us both having good incomes, if we had a second, we would have to sacrifice vacations, going out to restaurants and doing paid activities. We thought about what we wanted for our life and realized we didn’t want to make that sacrifice.”

If you haven’t read “The Rise of the One-and-Done Family,” I encourage you to take a look. It’s an insightful portrait of parenthood today and the forces that will shape Canada’s future.

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

Precarious housing amplifies the risk of opioid harms, and in 2023, the per-capita rate of homelessness in Belleville, Ontario, surpassed that of Toronto. “We’re seeing the effects of that on our streets,” says the region’s Paramedic Services chief Carl Bowker. The city had a tainted drug supply and, in the first week of November, paramedics responded to 12 times as many overdose calls than usual. “People were dropping like flies,” Bowker says.

Essential workers—paramedics, teachers, nurses, daycare workers, firefighters—are the backbone of our country. But their wages can’t keep up with runaway housing costs in the cities they serve. The fix? To help front-line workers stay in our communities, writes journalist Gregor Craigie, we need to fund homes for them.

Through a real story, learn to recognize sex trafficking—it’s not what you think

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In the spring of 2022, four women went missing within the same few blocks in downtown Winnipeg. This spring, the man accused of their murders will go on trial. So will the city they all called home.

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